Chapter 4: Shape
Shijima and Majime are getting lunch at the local convenience store. There, a familiar blonde girl works as a clerk and is unable to greet its customers properly, which earns the criticism of a certain black-haired girl. Majime tells Shijima that she usually brings homemade meals to school, but since her mother did not feel like cooking for today, Majime decided to buy lunch instead. Majime then comments on Shijima's fondness for processed fish, to which latter expresses her preference for fish-shaped kamaboko. However, Majime finds the idea cruel, as it involves sculpting fish-shaped food from the remains of actual fish, which disturbs Shijima. Majime decides that she should get seafood for lunch as well, but ends up getting leaf mustard ("takana") instead of fish ("sakana").
In school, Ms. Mogawa is conducting an art class for first-year students, with their task for today's session being to shape the wires into the form of "sadness". Ayaka finds it difficult, even though she can create a sorrowful sound through music. Yumi points out that music has the ability to convey abstract concepts as well. This gives Yoshiko an idea to use the wires as strings on an acoustic guitar and play melancholic chords like A minor. Ayaka, who coincidentally has an oscilloscope with her, suggests reproducing the chords' waveform using the wires. Meanwhile, Majime is struggling to reshape the wires to resemble iron ore, employing a technique similar to the "fried squid logic", and Shijima molds her wires into a representation of her mother's face, although she has never seen her at all. Near the end of class, the students are asked to display the shapes they have crafted, after which Ms. Mogawa presents to them a "twisted tree" behind the gym building, which is hindered from getting proper sunlight, and therefore only bears a limited number of leaves while its branches contort. This particular tree embodies a juxtaposition of sadness and the resilience of life.
After the class ends, Ms. Mogawa is glad with how well it turned out, but she became anxious enough to the point where she considers seeking solace in alcohol. Saying this, Mogawa retrieves a bottle of whiskey, dilutes it with water, and proceeds to drink it while extending herself through a gap in the fence, creating the illusion that she is drinking outside the confines of the school grounds. Even the principal can be seen smoking outside. Meanwhile, Shijima contemplates the idea that while certain messages can be conveyed through visual appearance, there are also certain things that are better left unspoken.
